Training Fields
by Leafy Lincoln
Summary: Hanabi never saw eye to eye with Konohamaru. She didn't see how he could become anything of importance. Will a spar between the two change her thinking?


The twitching of my eyebrow was the only thing that escaped the Hyuga mask I had learned to make. It was the only thing telling the world of my irritation, which was usually and currently, directed at a certain someone. I, Hanabi Hyuga, forcibly stopped the twitching- a great feat on my part- as the certain someone jogged past me with a carefree smile upon his face. This so called person was none other than Sarutobi Konohamaru.

We had always clashed in means of personality ever since we first met in the Academy. I was the 'Hyuga genius' and he was the 'dead beat'. Always last with that annoying, goofy smile of his, making jokes and laughing at his failures. Oh, everybody loved and played along with him, but not me. To say we didn't get along was an understatement. At first he had tried to become my friend but I immediately declined, telling him that I didn't need his useless friendship. My father had warned me not to associate with _those_ kinds of people.

How he even passed the academy was beyond me. But he did and continued to make my life miserable with the pranks and constant smiles. I'm surprised his face hadn't split in half in his first weeks as a genin.

How others looked at him sickened me too. The girls in particular bother me, making me wonder if all of the feminine race would succumb to stupidity and outrageous giggles. They'd say that he was 'so cute' and squeal whenever he passed by. I didn't really see it. He looked completely normal, a completely average villager in my point of view, though a slight bit slack-jawed. In addition, many saw him as the second Naruto. The demon holder was very popular and, I had to admit, very strong. Naruto had made his life long dream of becoming Rokudaime and everyone seemed to think Konohamaru would follow in his footsteps. Everyone that is, except me.

I just didn't see it. If he couldn't even beat me, what chance did he have with being Hokage?

That's what we were settling right now in fact. I had for the millionth time told him that his dream wasn't and wouldn't become a reality. I mocked him with my Hyuga pride and he had replied with his energetic yells of sickening determination and stupidity.

Staring at me with laughing eyes he slid into a fighting stance.

He wore his regular attire, all put together with his river-blue scarf wrapped around his neck. . His hair was dark and spiking in its usual fashion: up. The only thing setting him from the rest of the world was his eyes. They were dark and seemingly endless, and although they did hold much laughter, they seemed to stare straight at you.

But enough about his looks, I thought, that didn't matter right then. The only thing that did was beating him. That was my goal of the evening, and I was sure to fulfill it.

I maliciously cracked my knuckles.

"Ooh, the cracking of the knuckles. Very frightening." Sarutobi said while he twirled two kunai in each hand expertly. It was all for show. We always tried to out do the other, even when it concerned intimidation. Everything was a competition with us, a competition that I usually won.

"I know. I can see your knees shaking." I teased as I shifted my feet apart and brought my hands up, palms facing him. I had the pleasure of seeing the flash of annoyance cross his face. "Let's see if all that blabber about you becoming Hokage is true."

With that said I closed the distance between us in a mater of seconds, thrusting my palm toward his ribcage. When he side step to the left I instantly leaned back to escape the punch I knew was coming.

He was so predictable sometimes.

My legs came up to kick him in the jaw as I did a backwards cartwheel. The soft grass tickled the edges of my wrists as they connected. I ignored the feeling as I twisted my body, my foot arching in a wide circle, intent on making contact with Sarutobi's face. It nearly got there before being intercepted. A hand wrapped itself around my ankle, hiding it from view, and stopped it inches from his face. The hand started to twist my leg at an awkward angle, making me wince. The right side of my shirt started slowly going down as I stayed on my hands for a few good seconds.

A sharp point was felt in the exposed area. I looked up- or was it down?- to see the scarf wearing boy holding a kunai to my stomach, the point just touching my skin.

The corners of my mouth turned down profusely. Father had always scolded me for my fancy moves, saying that it opened me up for attack too much.

I hated it when he was right. And he always was.

My eyes narrowed as I brought my other foot back menacingly. Sadly, when I struck, his face wasn't there anymore.

Finally back on my feet I twirled and punched the space where I knew Konohamaru's face would be. It met air as he moved his head to inches to the right, his annoying smile still on his face. I continued sending punches and kicks at him, which he dodged all with ease.

His first offense was a punch in my gut as I swung high to get a good shot of his face. It sent me flying toward a tree. I could feel the bark scrape my hands as I reached out an arm to catch myself, swinging myself on the thick branch.

What was with me?

I couldn't get a single hit on this guy. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. I was making amateur mistakes. And to top it all off, he was winning! Making a fool out of me, the kid was doing something that I didn't think possible. Never before had I _ever_ been like this, it just wasn't like me

Enough with this hand to hand combat. It was going nowhere. I opened my mouth to say something but he beat me to it.

"Come on, Hyuga." His voice sounded bored, resembling the Nara strategist considerably. Casually he walked over to the tree I was perched in and leaned on it. He grinned at me idiotically. "Get serious."

Get serious? The way he said it made me want to stomp my foot like a child. But that would be disgraceful to the Hyuga clan and myself. Not only that, but it would look extremely immature. I held back the action with my will, not wanting to let him have any benefit. Instead I responded by angrily throwing a kunai at his privates. Which, I was sad to say; he dodged at the last moment.

Sarutobi glared at me accusingly, motioning to the kunai now implanted in the ground. "Is that a move you do with every guy you battle?"

I didn't answer, just giving him a thin smile; one that I hoped held a lot of malice.

Noticing this he quickly looked at the kunai- and immediately leaped back. He wasn't quick enough and was caught in the blast of the exploding tag as it detonated, shooting him back further. He tumbled quite a distance, rolling in a backwards summersault, gathering dust into the air.

Finally, I had gotten one over the scarf-wearing idiot. Pleased with myself, I allowed a smug expression to settle on my face as he stood up.

Coughing, he looked at me apprehensively. Hopefully he wouldn't take me so lightly any longer; he might just end up injured. Or worse. I repeated my father's most used phrase to him, "Never let your guard down while in the midst of an enemy." It was something that ninjas had to learn fast if they wished to survive, else they'd end up dead.

"Well, we aren't exactly enemies." Sarutobi stated, brushing off the dirt that had gathered everywhere on his clothes and body, but it was a waste of time. "Not the best of friends, but I think enemies would be too harsh of a word, don't you think?"

I snorted. Not the best of friends? That was a major understatement on his part. He and I didn't go well together, we were complete opposites. His go lucky personality like a balloon, always expanding, and my sadistic logic was just the needle that was ready to pop it. No, from the first time we met I knew being friends was impossible.

"You're an idiot."

Even with the distance between the two of us I could still plainly see the frown on his face, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, which happened whenever he was annoyed. "That's a stupid way to answer!"

I pulled out more kunai, all of them with exploding tags attached. Without answering, my face composed, I threw them all at once. There was some satisfaction in seeing him evade all of them, one after another as they exploded. It was a pity I didn't see much of the surprise look that flitted across his face. After it was all done a large cloud of dust covered the ground, hiding everything from view.

**"Byakugan."**

The world was seen in new colors, as it always was whenever charkas were exposed before my eyes. Every life form from a hundred meters was seen, was identified, big or small.

Zoning in on the area bellow, I searched for the familiar chakra that I knew was present. But, for some reason, instead of one, I found two. They were exactly the same; no distinction between them and their chakra path, and that itself led me to believe that Sarutobi had made a clone. It was a predictive move seeing how, like our new Rokudaime, he used it often and efficiently.

_CRACK!_

Sounds of splintering wood reached my ears just as gravity took a heavier hold on me. The tree I was in, and to an extent me, was falling to its side. Where its trunk should've been was a large hole, the edges black and scorched.

One of the clones of Sarutobi grinned up at me, his Rasengan dissipating into nothing but expendable energy. I couldn't help a small yelp escape my lips, but it soon turned into a snarl at the sight of the boy's face.

I, Hanabi Hyuga, would not take that! In less than a second I launched myself at him, evading all the falling branches coming my way. Slamming my palm down, scarcely missing his face by an inch, I whipped my foot to his chest. As he fell back, I was there once more, aiming another kick at his side.

The last kick didn't land. Instead, Sarutobi grabbed it when I was mere inches away from cracking his ribs, though he did slide back from the force of my anger.

"Is this serious for you?" I growled at him, yanking my foot away, almost pulling his arms out of their sockets. Like I cared. Spinning quickly, I lashed out at him, pulsing some of my chakra into the palm of my hand.

I silently and mentally cursed at myself as he dodged, cursing him as well for dodging it in the first place.

"Yeah," He grunted, as he sidetracked another one of my attacks. "finally I see can see how you graduated." His eyes mocked me just as he made quick hand signals and after crying out, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **a total of twenty copies of the infuriating boy appeared in smoke. They all wore the same idiotic smile, the one that downright annoyed me to no end.

For one short period of time I froze, my thoughts unclear. I didn't know if I'd heard him right, that the words actually came out his lips. How did_ I_ graduate? Me? Of all people, he was asking me that? The famous deadbeat, prank-master Konohamaru Sarutobi was asking me how I, the prestigious, honorable Hanabi Hyuga, had graduated.

"You are so going to get it." I hissed at him, unable to hide my anger. Not like I was doing a good job anyway. "With no mercy."

With two long strides I had positioned myself between the beginning two figures of him, the original and the first clone made. My palm came up and, with the slightest of touches, touched the Konohamaru on my right's stomach. He hissed in pain and I turned away from the clone as it went out of existence, focusing my sights on the real genin.

"Making so many clones is pointless." I told him as I turned my body to face him with a sharp turn. He didn't move as I neared, but watched me intently. Probably just finally acknowledging the fact that I was a better shinobi that he was and how his loss was inevitable. My hand was coming up to lightly tap his collarbone, "It just wastes your chakra reserve and makes you look like an idiot."

He grunted in pain, but the small pinch of satisfaction I had was soon lost when the corner of his lips came up slowly. His form shook for a second as he replied to my critical statement, "I thought I was already an idiot."

Then he burst into smoke.

I heard laughter all around, originating from the numerous other clones that were targeted at my surprised expression.

In truth, I didn't know whether to gape at the fact that I was fooled or get even madder at the boy. Settling for anger, I snapped at the nearest clone. Right when it was in mid-laugh, voicing the same chuckle that Sarutobi himself made, he was destroyed by my merciless fist. At least half of the remaining was dealt with in a similar manner, reducing the number to my advantage.

Once they realized they were in danger, clones came at me. Head on and with brute force was his strategy. Swinging fists and attempts at tackles, though at moments effective, was futile with my Byakugan activated. I saw through all the attacks and dispersed all the clones. Not a one was left standing in the clearing. Not even the real Konohamaru.

I tried not to let my frustration get the hold of me. _He'll come_, I tried to tell myself calmly, _he'll come and all you have to do is be patient_.

And, what a surprise, he came. Like a pup returning a ball to its master, wanting another chance to play.

Nimbly, I escaped the full force of a Rasengan tearing me apart, throwing another one of my weapons at him, stating that I was still and forever irritated at his comments made only seconds before. Feeling stranger and unlike myself by the minute, I took the chance to get right next to him, clearly evading the mutual rule of personal space. Before I would never even want to go anywhere near him, let alone have physical contact, but I wondered if it might just put him off as much as it unnerved me. I saw the chance to take control, and took it to my advantage.

I placed my elbow on his shoulder, shoving him down and trying to unbalance him; startling him (that itself pleased me to no end). "Sarutobi," I gasped, fake and mocking as can be. "you should know that playing with techniques like that can lead to accidents. Every adult would have your skin for using it on another 'teammate'."

His reaction to my sudden closeness was awkward but quick nonetheless. He twisted to face me, a hand outstretched to grab hold of me, bringing our bodies even closer. However, I was ready for anything. With a small and devilish smile, I flicked his fumbling hand aside; the chakra path flowing through it was instantly closed and dealt with. I brought out his feet from under him, gleefully watching his startled expression flit across his face. His descent toward the ground was short, so quick in fact that I didn't spot his other hand snake out and seize hold on my wrist and yank at it, bringing me along in his plunge.

There was much cursing when we connected with the merciless ground; not even with my Hyuga grace could I make our stumble into the ground any kind of elegant. The ending result was just a mesh of limbs. We were grappling in each other's arms, rolling in the dirt, each trying to get the upper hand. I tried kneeing him in his lower area, but was easily blocked as he all but hurled me away; with my hands stubbornly hanging on to his upper arms I dragged him along with me.

"Stupid Sarutobi. Just admit defeat." My teeth were grinding in the effort to remain the dominant one.

With a grunt of effort, he rammed my back into the hard ground. "Never. Why don't you surrender, eh?" He had lost his humor, as I had, and was completely serious now. The momentum of his lunge had us spinning down a hill, which was full of a luxurious amount of tough rocks. We were still struggling when we came to a standstill at the base of the hill. I could feel my muscles groaning with desperation to stop, but I pushed on. I could feel his power weakening; his chakra supply was running low, I could see it. Now, it was a battle on who could hold out longest.

"Surrendering is for quitters." I had gained the upper hand.

"And you think I'm a quitter? Honestly?" I had lost it. A moment of doubt and he had acquired the advantage. It was that dumb question that got me thinking. He was stupid, irritatingly cheerful, noisy, and loud. But a quitter? That just didn't fit his description. He was talkative, but also determined. Trustworthy. Brave. Honest. Loyal.

I looked away from his eyes, murmuring, "No. Not a quitter. You're too annoyingly stubborn for that." It was his turn to get distracted now, momentarily caught off guard over my response. That was all I needed. Using my last reserves in strength, I locked my hands around his wrists and brought my legs up to push against his stomach. He was sent flying over me, landing on his back with a yelp and a groan.

Letting out a giant breathe I slumped on the dirt, not caring that I was covered head-to-toe with dust. After a quick moment, I forced myself up, getting on my feet and painfully stretching. As I brushed myself off I looked to where I threw Sarutobi and saw it was only a couple of feet from where we were wrestling. I frowned, it wasn't as far as I wanted and I took note to bring up my lower body stamina.

I nudged him with my foot and he opened his eyes to gaze up at me as I stood over him. I fantasized at the idea of squashing him like a cockroach, but I set that thinking to the side. While looking down at his figure I felt something- nothing big, but it was still something. Maybe, only maybe, did I feel that he was slowly rubbing on me. He was still the annoying and immature kid, but I did get a decent fight out of him. Even when I beat him, he kept coming, bringing that spirit of determination. He acknowledged my victory and just returned with more enthusiasm, even withstanding my blunt comments. He seems to know that to get where he wanted he had to start somewhere and that somewhere was me. He tolerated me.

And I, for some amazingly stupid reason, tolerated him. Even when he stood up against me and defied my logic. It came across that there actually might be something that could become of him, if only a slight and crazy chance.

I sighed, not truly believing that I was going to say it, "Don't do it."

Confusion was clear as he set his brows together. "What?"

"Don't quit. " I repeated, slightly irritated that I had to say it again. "Don't you ever quit, you got me?"

"Uh… OK…" Poor guy didn't know what to make of it, his brain probably whirling for answers and explanations. "I guess."

I knelt down, sitting on my heels, my hands on my knees. Blocking the sun with my body, I made it easy for him to see me and I bent over to get right in his face. Before speaking I went over a few of my thoughts, biting my lip in concentration, though in the end decided to continue with what I was planning to say in the first place. "It's what you do best, so don't quit. Even if it's me putting you down or another person like me. Ignore them and do what you have to do. Just don't quit." I offered my right hand. "You like making promises, right?"

He stared at me, not comprehending.

Without another wasted second, trying to resist rolling my eyes, I grabbed his left hand, the one that wasn't fully limp, and held it extended above him. Sarutobi looked at our clasped hands as if he never imagined them to be touching and I squeezed his to make him focus on what I was saying. A small smile began to form on his dirtied face, his eyes meeting mine with its usual light. He squeezed back, his hand strong and reassuring.

"Promise." His smile evolved into a grin, laughing a little. Somehow I knew exactly when an idea formed in his mind. I had the state of mind to relinquish my hold of his hand, but now he was the one holding onto my hand. "Now you promise."

"Promise what?" This time I was confused.

"To never forget about worth."

I opened my mouth and then closed it. Worth. This was coming off the point that I didn't think he was going to amount to much, which he mostly likely knew of; and he wanted to show me that there was always purpose. That everyone, even dead-beats like him, was important. I shifted my stare to the sky and noticed how blue it was and then turned my eyes to Sarutobi's scarf. Finally, I sighed, "I promise."

The laugh that came from him expressed his happiness, and I couldn't help letting free a small and sweet smile. Maybe I could keep his promise, but only if he kept his.

I brought my free hand to his bicep and delicately tapped a few points, opening his chakra flow. Then, without a word, I helped him to his feet.

"I'm going to tell you this once: this stays between us." I stated, lifting my chin to present myself as taller. "If I hear of it from anyone, you are in deep trouble." I was serious; I didn't want anyone to know that I was sweet to Sarutobi. If any of the girls found out, they'd pester me nonstop about the details and insisting that he was the "one" for me. It would be unbearable and unwanted.

"Don't worry Hyuga, no one will know." I noticed that my hand was still in his. I pointedly stared at it, willing my hand to release his and it did, though slowly. Sarutobi's hand stayed in the same position and a second later, a little hesitant in my eyes, it dropped to his sides.

"Good." I turned to walk away, only half-aware that the sides of my mouth were twisting up again. The genin that was standing behind me was a force that was unknown to many. I liked to think that he would prove many people wrong and change their views, mine including. I even played with the thought that Father was wrong in this case.

And I did love it when Father was wrong.

"Hey!" I heard Sarutobi call out, "Who won the fight?"

I looked back at him, not understanding at first and then realizing what he was talking about. "Me, of course. I knocked you on the ground and that was the end of it, so, of course, I'm the winner."

"So next time I have to knock you down to win." It wasn't a question, but rather a statement.

"Seems so." I said, continuing my walk towards the village. I was just brushing a stray strand of hair from my face when Sarutobi collided with me head on from the back. His arms wrapped around my body, trapping my arms against my sides. We landed in a heavy heap once more, Konohamaru's weight on top of me.

"What the h-"

"I win this time." Sarutobi's mouth was right next to my ear and I heard him loud and clear, his hot breath on the side of my neck. I turned my head sideways, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I hope you can still keep your promise when you're in a coma, Sarutobi. In a matter of fact, I'll take you to the hospital personally." With that I slipped my hands out of his hold and continued to wrestle with him. The ache in my muscles was suddenly gone, replaced with something close to happiness and anticipation. His laughter echoes all around me, a friendly challenge, which was accompanied by my quiet chuckles.

He might have some worth in him, but it seemed like a while until it actually revealed itself.


End file.
